Melanie: A Maximum Ride Novel Kind Of
by Raven Lyon
Summary: I never expected this. Fang, I hate your guts.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Melanie

Disclaimer: "Maximum Ride" is and will never be mine.

This story picks up right where "Angel" left off. Kind of, you'll get a surprise when it goes into the future of the "Maximum Ride" series. I also needed a break from Teen Titans.

Fang had-once again-left me in the wake of tragedy. Angel was gone, and nothing would ever be the same. He was a bigger butthead than Dylan, and in my book that was hard to beat. I watched him walk off into the distance, I picked my way through the rubble and walked over to Gazzy, Nudge trailing behind me. It had been five hours since the explosion rocked Paris, and we still hadn't found her body. Fang told me she hadn't escaped, but I refused to think that, since we hadn't found her body.

I was still watching Fang's fading silhouette, wishing he were here with us. Not leaving us, which is what he seemed best at in the past year. First he split because of Ari, then because of Dylan telling him his presence was putting us in danger. Of course we got him back both times, but then again here comes Dylan, making the love of my life lead. Am I sounding bitter? Of course I am, if you were me, you would too. I saw him shoot up into the sky with "Maya", I closed my eyes and wished myself somewhere else.

~`*fifteen years later*`~

I woke up to another day, with perfect weather, and chirping birds. No one was trying to kill me, nobody was tracking me. That I knew of anyway. And yet, the nightmares still pursued me. My whole flock in cages, being pushed into an isolation tank, my clone trying to kill me. Fang, leaving us, leaving me. Nothing I did lessened them, but time. In the first year after the supposed apocalypse was going to happen, where Dylan and I had to produce heirs. That is a disgusting thought. Yes, we'd have perfect children, and possibly live a long life with eachother after the "apocalypse" but nothing compared to what I wanted and had with Fang.

I got out of bed and started my shower, it was steaming within seconds. I shucked my clothes and got in, I washed my hair, used some soap to scrub off any leftover dirt from the day before, and got out. I continued my morning routine, and went down to the kitchen when I was finished. I stopped, she was already in her chair, with Angel and Nudge talking to her.

"What time is it?" I asked. Nudge looked up, and instantly a dazzling smile lit up her face.

"Max! You're up! Oh, you asked what time it was, um it's like 10:40 or something. We let you sleep late because you did so much yesterday." She told me, then went on about how she and Melanie had made cinnamon rolls together just for the flock.

I nodded at her, and my daughter turned around, her bottomless eyes dancing happily at me.

"Yeah, Mom! Nudge is the best cook ever!" She said to me. Well, compared to me yes. Yeah, fifteen years later and I still can't cook. Figures. Oh, you're still stuck on daughter aren't you? Yes, I had a kid. No, she's not Dylan's. Did I not say _bottomless?_ Now whose eyes are bottomless? For those of you new to the books, go back and read the first one, I'm getting really tired of explaining everything to you. For those of you returning readers, here's the story.

~*flashback: Fifteen Years Earlier*~

"Max," I heard a voice in the entry way of Mom's house. The voice sounded familiar but nonetheless I picked up the bat in the corner of the kitchen. I flattened myself against the wall next to the doorway of the kitchen, I raised the bat, and waited for the mystery guy to come into the kitchen. He stepped in, I swung the bat as hard as I could into his gut, he doubled over, and I realized I had just hit the supposed love of my life, Fang. Or Fnick, whatever you want to call him.

"What" He gasped in air, and held his stomach, "Is wrong with you?" He sounded really angry, so angry there isn't a word for it.

"Defending myself bird boy!" I yelled, putting a brave front over my nervous interior. "What are you doing here? Why are you even saying my name?" I growled.

I held the bat by my shoulder, and tightened and loosened my grip on it. He finally stood up, still clutching his side, and glared at me, long and hard. I swallowed ready for a fight. But instead of throwing a punch at me, like he would in the old days, he took a deep breath and yanked the bat from my grip. He threw it to the side and yanked me into the living room. I struggled to get out of his grip, but nothing I threw at him worked, he just kept pulling me to the couch. Finally I kicked him in the crook of his knee, and he went down like a ton of bricks. I took advantage of this and ran for it, but he was too quick for me and hooked his foot around my ankle, sending me sprawling into the carpet. I hit the ground so hard I saw stars.

"You're out of practice aren't you?" He said snickering. He stood above me. "Right, Max." He moved my hair out of my face. "Max?" he shook me, he turned my body over. "Max?" He shook me once more. I decided to take this as an advantage, and jumped at him, pushing him to the carpet.

"You seem a little out of practice, too, Fnick." I added sarcastically. He stared, and disappeared into the carpet. I knew he was still there since I could feel his shoulders under me. Then he smiled.

"I guess so, _Maxine._" He said playing on how much I hated being called that. He flipped me over, and once again I could see him. He held me down, and looked into my face, with a look he had given me so many times before. I relaxed my body and let myself get sucked into his eyes.

"So, are you going to listen to me?" I sighed, and nodded, defeated. "okay, I have a lot to tell you, it's going to take a while." He explained everything to me, and I listened quietly. Nodding at the right parts, and just listening. Something I rarely do. "Okay," he said about an hour later. "You've heard me out, what do you think about this?"

"I'm not sure, but I just know we have to take this new company down." I told him, completely not ready for what happened next. He made a move, and kissed me. He moved us into my room. I woke up the next morning and he was gone. Yep, I slept with Fang.

You like? Leave a comment, or two. Tell me your likes and dislikes, if it was dry like the toast I ate this morning, or possibly so good you want to read more of it? Well, I have to go, my Ma has some hot tottie for me, and if I don't get it soon it's gonna be cold. So, I bit you adieu ;).


	2. Chapter 2

Well, I'm back pretty soon, for how lazy I am. I have the most horrible cold I've ever had, so I can't sleep. What do I do when I can't sleep? I write, watch "Glee", "Buffy", or I roll around in bed bothering Devin with texts. Well, this time I've decided to write, because I got three reviews! That's even better than I could have hoped for. Thank you for being so nice . Also, I've been sitting on this idea for a while, but I just sat down at my computer because I'm sick with nothing to do.

Disclaimer: I think I own Devin's heart, but I kind of got it in exchange for mine…eh, oh well, I NO OWN Maximum Ride.

~*Break*~

Chapter two!

So, I have a daughter, Fang is a creep, and we're having cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Caught up? Good. Well, I slept with Fnick, and I had a child. No, I didn't have weird cravings, a lot of that stuff is just a myth (A/N: So, talking to my mom one day, and she tells me usually when you're pregnant you just want like one thing you'll eat it all the time then you'll never want it again, not pickles ice cream and mustard. That's just freaking weird I mean your taste buds don't change) Dylan has kept trying to be in my life as my significant other, and has failed every time. No matter what he's never going to be completely a part of the flock, just like Angel will never fit in entirely again.

Nudge was chattering on in the background, she was still the Nudge Channel. That never changed, Angel was still creepy but sweet. Melanie was actually sweet, she was naïve and innocent. If Angel wasn't a mutant, and grew up normally, she would be Melanie. But that's like saying "if a dog was human…" yeah it doesn't work. Iggy and Gazzy make their own explosives. It's not illegal this time though, they work for a government funded company. Not something you'd think they do after what we've been through but they love it, and Iggy's working on getting his musical career started. Surprisingly, he's fantastic at the guitar, and he can sing almost as well as Dylan.

I finished my breakfast and carried my plate to the sink. I glanced out the window. Total was already in the yard with a few of the puppies from his daughter's litter. When Akila had their puppies we thought they were all normal, until one of them decided to tell Iggy exactly what she thought of his color combinations, and another grew wings and decided to tell Gazzy how horrible he smelled. They hadn't had anything more weird than that, but not all of them had wings, but all of them could talk. Which made for a very irritated Max. I did not need more commentary. So, all of them mated with regular dogs, and some of their pups couldn't talk and didn't have wings.

Speaking of wings, Melanie had wings that were a cross between mine and Fang's, they were a beautiful and unique. There weren't designated layers, the different colors were placed randomly. The sad thing was, she couldn't figure out how to fly with them. She could flap them and fold and unfold them but she couldn't get off the ground. My poor baby couldn't fly.

I wasn't going to be cold hearted and push her off the roof, but she needed to learn how to fly, we couldn't leave her alone as she got older. I couldn't leave her with Nudge or Angel when I needed to stretch my wings and think. So, today was the day that I would teach my little bird to fly.

"Hey, Melanie," I said, coming up behind her, and putting my hands on her shoulders. "Do you want to learn how to fly?" I asked, hoping she was as excited as I was. She stared up at me with those big brown eyes, and smiled so widely I was afraid she would split her lip.

"Of course, Mom! I can't wait!" She told me excitedly not missing a beat. "I'm gonna go get dressed!" She squealed and ran upstairs. I smiled and sat down. Angel and Nudge stared at me with smiles on their faces.

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked. They smiled even wider and laughed.

"Ohmigosh, Max, you're finally going to teach her how to fly?" She implored. I nodded.

"Of course, I wasn't going to let her flounder around forever, I just thought she would fly by herself before this." I shrugged and picked up a glass of orange juice. Melanie bounded down the stairs, fully dressed, and hair brushed back into a long braid going to the middle of her back.

We walked into the backyard, and we both snapped our wings open. I heard Nudge and Angel walk out behind us.

"Okay, Mel, start flapping." I told her. She nodded, and started to flap her wings. I noticed she wasn't flapping her whole wings. "Stop." I told her. I touched the base of her wings. "You aren't flapping your whole wings, flap from the base. Go." She started flapping from the base, and I heard her starting to move the air. "That's good keep going!" I told her. "Alright, jump!" She jumped and flapped hard. She flew for a few minutes then fell back down, her wings not strong enough to hold her up for long yet. But my baby flew! The girls cheered, and Melanie did a little spin on the grass, I hugged her and picked her up, she did it on her first try. Which amazed me because I never even got close to that on my first try, and it also made me immensely happy.

~*Break*~

After Melanie's flight, I decided to go to the grocery store. I was picking up some things for dinner. I was making Melanie's favorite. Barbecue chicken pizza. It's one of the only things I can make that tastes good and usually isn't burned. As I was picking out the chicken, I saw someone out of the corner of my eye. He had long dark hair, and tan skin, he looked like fang, but then again, his coloring was pretty common, so I ignored it.

Until, I saw him again when I was picking out a pie for dinner. And once again when I was getting fruit punch. I heard him come up behind me, and I tensed waiting for a fight. But all he did was come up behind me and whisper in my ear, "Max". I gasped and the world went black as I hit the ground.

~*break*~

I woke fifteen minutes later, surrounded by people, Nudge was also standing above me, and made everyone move. She knelt down, "Max, what happened?"

"Fang was here. He whispered in my ear." I told her. She shook her head, and gave me a worried look.

"No, Max, he was never here." She frowned and waved someone over, as my world went dark once again.

~*Break*~

Slightly boring chapter yes, but new record! Two chapters in one day! Review :3, please.


	3. Chapter 3

Well, still sick. Not getting better anytime soon, but that can't keep me away from the computer! I've been sick for four days officially today, all with a fever. And hallucinations. Well, to get this chapter started, I'm up at six in the morning writing the third chapter of "Melanie" , six in the morning pacific time, that is. And I actually didn't think I'd get five reviews with just two chapters. Thanks to: Mae With Wings97, Music and Jesus Lover 1214, Elise the Amazing, and Arrowkid21. ;) You guys are awesome. And yes Max as well as I are crazy as fruit loops. Or crazy flakes as my best friends say.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

~*Break*~

So, I had hallucinated Fang being at the grocery store? Everyone else seemed to think so, but not me. So maybe I am a little crazy like they always said I was, but that wasn't going to stop me. I stood over our wooden chopping board, cutting up parsley and getting ready to cut the chicken. Nudge and Iggy walked into the kitchen, and all conversation stopped when they saw me. Nudge tried to hide the stricken look on her face, with a smile, and tried to include me in whatever conversation they were having.

"Hey, Max, do you think dogs or cats are better?" She asked, I sighed. Nothing ever changed she was and forever always will be my little mediator.

"I can't exactly judge since we've never had a cat. But, since talking dogs are slightly _annoying!"_ I raised my voice so Total could hear me upstairs "I'd have to go with cats" Nudge looked at me, then looked at Iggy, and burst out laughing a fake laugh, Iggy joined in with her fake laughing their way out of the kitchen.

I was scaring everyone off, no one wanted to be alone with me and a knife. We've been over this thousands of times, I DO NOT kill. I would never kill, but I wouldn't kill with a knife.

I continued chopping at a renewed speed, and was done with it all in minutes. I started to cook the chicken in a pan, and I got the sauce ready in the mean time. I heard six pairs of feet coming down the stairs, I looked and they were heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked them casually, hoping they weren't all trying to escape me.

"We're taking Melanie to the park, is that okay with you?" Nudge asked me. I nodded, and waved my hand at them.

"Yeah, go, have fun, I'll see you all in time for dinner." I smiled at them, and they walked out the door, and continued to cook the chicken.

~*Break*~

My flock had been gone for about an hour when I saw that same guy outside my kitchen window. I didn't turn all the way, so he wouldn't know I was watching. But as soon as I put the pizza in the oven, I took off my apron and casually made my way through the door. There's a door on the side of the kitchen that you can't see from the window that leads to the backyard, I took that door, and peeked around the corner.

The man had a black head of hair, and olive toned skin, exactly like Fang, but then again a lot of people have his coloring, right? He turned away from me, so that his back was facing the yard. I had no shoes on, so I could sneak up on him without being heard. I didn't breathe, I didn't blink, or move my mouth. I was a statue, and I crept up on him like I was a ghost. He tried to turn just as I got him in a head lock. He struggled against me until he passed out, and I dragged him inside the house.

As soon as I had gotten him as far as the hall I dropped him not sure what to do. If I tied him up he would just break free, and I didn't have rope or spare bed sheets. But, I did have bungee cords. I picked him up under the armpits and carried him into the garage where we kept the bungee cords, I sat him up on a chair and proceeded to the shelves. I picked up one box and spilled them out onto the floor. I picked up the too longest, which spanned four feet each. I tied both around him and knotted them in the back. I picked up a smaller cord and tied it around his wrists, leaving his hands in front of him so he couldn't untie himself.

I started pacing the garage, and thinking about what the flock would say about him. I wondered what they would say to me, once they realized that I hadn't just been hallucinating. Fang hissed as he came back to the world of the living, he rolled his head and popped his neck. He looked around the room, then finally his eyes came to rest on me. He gave me a quizzical look, then smiled.

"Hey, Max," He said in a dreamy voice. No, not dreamy as in cute, dreamy like he thinks he seeing things. "I thought I'd see you again soon." I raised my eyebrow and tipped his chair over. I did not need this right now, I went back inside the house just as the front door was opening revealing my family coming home from the park. I jumped, and turned to the door trying to not look guilty, and hopefully I was succeeding.

"Hi, guys, how was the park?" I asked, trying to be upbeat. Melanie smiled.

"I saw Xavier there." She blushed and looked down at her feet. Nudge smiled and rubbed her shoulder.

"Oh, did you say hi to him?" I asked. She nodded, and smiled even bigger.

"Well, let's go eat before the pizza gets cold! Come on!" I said loudly and made a gesture with my hand for them to follow me. We all sat down in the kitchen and ate our dinner. Which-thank goodness-wasn't burned, but perfectly crisp, golden brown, and sweet. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy it, because I was afraid that Fang would come bursting out. Melanie knew who her father was, I explained it to her, and she even knew what he looked like. She didn't hate him, but she wasn't exactly keen on meeting him.


	4. Chapter 4

Finally updating…because I'm a procrastinator.

Disclaimer: Rave no own, you no sue.

~*Break*~

I groaned and looked towards the ceiling; I then closed my eyes and rubbed my face. This was all a little bit too much for me, the Great Maximum Ride. I think Fnick sensed it too because he sniggered, but soon regretted it when I kicked his chair, he glared up at me reminding me of when I woke him up by jumping on his bed. Those had been such good times, I tried to remember those, and have patience when I dealt with him.

"Mom?" Mel gave me a look that said "hello? Anyone there?" Nothing phased her. "Why is he even here? I thought you said he left the flock." I opened and closed my mouth searching for something to say. Nothing came to mind to explain the anomaly that was Fang on the floor of our garage.

"Melanie, things are a bit complicated right now," I told her, Fang snorted.

"Things are more than 'a bit' complicated." I turned back to glare at him, and was tempted to kick his chair once more. He smiled and I shook my head sighing, and wanting to be out of the situation as soon as possible.

"Well, Mel-Mel, your mom decided to keep me in the garage until she figured out what to do with me." I looked at Fang, sending mental daggers his way, his Cheshire cat smile only widened. I wanted to choke something, preferably the man on the floor, but I couldn't hurt someone in front of Melanie.

"Mel-Mel? Excuse me? You _do not_ get to call me that when you ditched your own family for whatever the heck you've been doing for the last twelve years!" Melanie yelled at him, she gazed at him on the floor with eyes of steel. I knew I had done _something_ right. I shot a smug smile Fang's way, and nudged his chair again, he just glared up at me like he had done previously.

"well, she's right, you know." Angel told him. He just shook his head and sighed, nothing was ever going to be right again after he left. Correction, if he left, no, when I made him leave.

Shortest chapter ever. I just want to go to bed, or die in a corner, I can't decide. So, there it is, get over it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter something….I've lost count….no, really. Joking CiCiCheval I kind of have a hate/like going on for Dylan…I think he's an asshat, and at one point I believe I put like nine or ten years in the future…and the bold is a good suggestion. So, for the rest of you, I'm extremely tired (sports seem to do that to you), and slightly cynical at the moment, and my whole body hurts -_-, I complain a lot. Here's the story! Okay, hold on I went back right after I wrote the forward, and at one point it says "flashback fifteen years" and then later Melanie says twelve years. So, let's go with twelve and you can do the math, 'Kay?**

Fang was still lying on the floor in the garage, while we figured out a plan. They didn't want to make him go just yet, Iggy wanted to talk to him, see where he had been what he had seen, etcetera. I just wanted him gone…but there was a little part of me that wanted to talk to him, and see why he left in the first place. I mean, after he left Paris the second time.

Anyway, so they were arguing over what to do, and Angel was trying to take charge. I finally stood up from my seat in the corner, and attempted to take charge of this. I put my hands out, "Hey, hey, be quiet for a few seconds, Fang can stay…for now. But, as soon as he makes one bad move he is _gone_, if he doesn't he's gone in a few days anyway. Kapeesh?" They all shook their heads glumly. I walked away from them and towards the garage door to talk to the Fangalator.

I sighed and opened the door for what seemed to be the third time today, I walked into the garage, and stepped on something soft. I thought it was the rug at first, so I kept going and heard a groan of pain. I looked down and saw Fang under my foot, and realized he must have moved towards the door to get a hint at what we were planning. I set his chair back up and started to untie him, then thought better of it and just left the knots.

"okay, so this is how it's going to go. You can either leave of your own accord, or stay for a week. If you pick the second choice, you will go the second you do something even slightly suspicious. Got it?" I asked him. He glared at me with a hatred that I'd seen from him a thousand times before, then mulled it over with careful contemplation.

"I realize that I may never get to see Melanie again if I go, and I might never see you again either." He whispered the last bit, and looked at me with that same look that made my knees go weak all those years ago. I thought I was going to fall, my legs felt like they had turned to melted marshmallow, ready to spill out onto the floor. I snapped out of that and back to reality really quickly.

I merely shook my head and motioned for him to continue. He nodded and kept on. "So, I choose to stay. If that's alright with you, the flock, and Melanie." He took a breath, waiting for me to reply.

"Alright, but make one move towards me and your spine is coming out through your nose, are we clear?" He smirked, and nodded. I kneeled and untied his knots, when I was finished he shook himself and rubbed his wrists.

"I had forgotten how tight your knots could be, even when you loosened them." He said, attempting to make some conversation. I ignored him and moved towards the door, he grabbed my wrist. I twisted and caught his jaw, he didn't expect it and rocked back his hand gripping my wrist coming up to hold his jaw.

I stalked out of the space, and slammed the door. He quickly followed and pinned me against a wall. He was breathing heavy in my face, and was getting steadily closer until his lips met mine. He was as good at it as I remembered, and if possible even better. Better than Dylan, which is completely possible, since I kissed him once, _once._ And the jerk won't let me forget it.

It kept getting deeper and deeper, until I lost myself, and when I came up for air realized my arms were wrapped around him and his were clutching my waist. I pushed him away, still gasping for air, and said, none too steadily, "If that ever happens again, I'll put liquid nitrogen in your cup instead of ice."

I stalked away and ended up running into Iggy. "Hey, watch out for the blind guy." He said an put his hands up. I shook my head and went upstairs eager for a shower after the day I'd had.

** Blah, blah, blah, another author note. Yes, I actually did this chapter without poking or prodding from Otose or Emanni. Amazing isn't it? Well, I found out my friend might have leukemia…pray for her please. On a lighter not leave a comment and what not.**


	6. Chapter 6

** Throat infection! So, I'm home from school and bringing you another chapter for Melanie. Not quite as fun as I had imagined writing another chapter would be, but what the hey, I take writing time whenever I can get it.**

**Disclaimer: Rave no own, you no sue.**

**Also, who maybe wants to write a script for me? I'm on the Maximum Ride User Casting site, and want to post another video, and possibly reciting something from one of the creative minds of Fan Fiction. PM me please if you're interested **

It was the next morning, and I was still confused as to what happened with Fang and I yesterday. I felt like we were fourteen again, when we'd have those random make out sessions in the desert, or in the bathroom, basically whenever we got time alone.

But also feeling like we were fourteen again was the feeling of pain when he left the first time, and promised never to do it again, but leaving twice after he made that promise.

Supposedly to protect me, but when did I ever really need protection? Hardly ever, he knew that, but was convinced that I needed him out of my life. When, really, I needed him there for me more than ever.

I didn't want to go downstairs for breakfast, I would have to face him, and possibly live up to my promise of nitrogen ice cubes. I was sure Iggy had then around here somewhere anyway, so might as well make some use of them. I finally got dressed, and braided my hair, then went downstairs for some breakfast. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard noises of bacon and eggs frying in a pan, and laughter over a story someone was telling.

I walked through the doorway, and realized the storyteller was Fang, talking about how bad my cooking used to be. I smiled as I remembered him spitting out the mac n' cheese, the first night we had been without Jeb and I had tried to make dinner. Then the breakfast disaster in which the toaster caught on fire, and Iggy had to douse it with the water we had brought back from our lake trip with the fish in it.

Even though I love my life now, I would never give up Melanie, I wish I could go back to those slightly uncomplicated days. Sure, everyone was trying to kill us, torture us, or capture us for their own ill-gotten gains, but it was nice. I walked deeper into the kitchen, grabbed a plate and started shoveling food onto it, even now I still needed as many calories as I could get. Because of that, and there being six of us-now seven- in the house with the same needs as me, the fridge and pantry were always fully stocked.

Fang and Iggy started laughing hysterically, then Nudge turned towards me and smiled really big, also simultaneously kicking Iggy to let him know I was here.

"Oh, hey, Max, how's it going?" He said trying not to laugh while talking. I frowned, something was going on, and I knew I wasn't going to like it.

"Hey, Ig, how's breakfast? Better than when I cook?" I cocked my head to the side, and sat down at the table. "Hey, Mel," I smiled at her and she smiled back twice as big. "Does anyone have plans for today? Because if you don't I was thinking about going to see Mom and Jeb." Iggy's attention snapped to me and stayed there.

Hesitantly, as if trying not to raise my attention, he asked, "Is Ella going to be there?" I shrugged.

"Maybe, I think she said something about coming if she didn't have to work at the clinic today." His face lit up, and I knew he was hooked on going to Mom's house. Now, clinic? You're wondering what she does, am I right? Well, she followed in Mom's footsteps, and went to vet school and she now works at a clinic a few miles from our house.

"Well, I'll call her and tell her we're coming over." He said, and walked out of the kitchen to get his cell. Which left me with other people to convince.

"Does anyone else want to go?" I asked them, Melanie is always up for a trip over to her Grandparent's house, so I automatically counted her in, Nudge said yes, Gazzy said maybe, and Angel said she would love to. Fang was the last one to convince, but I felt like Mom and Jeb needed to know he was back, even if only for a short time.

After we all finished eating, and cleaned up the kitchen, Fang and I were alone at the table. He was drinking some coffee, and I was reading the last few pages of a book I had picked up a few days before.

"So," I started. "Do you want to go to Mom's house?" I was still looking down at my book, so I wasn't able to discern his facial expression. "Mom would be happy that you're back for a short time." I looked up and he was looking into his mug.

"I'm not sure she'd be so happy." He said finally after a few minutes of silence.

"True, since you got her daughter pregnant, and didn't even stick around for a month after you did." I shrugged. "But after she got over the initial shock and anger, she was sad that you were gone and didn't even say 'hello' to her or the flock." He looked up in surprise, then looked down again.

"I didn't think that she would even care that I was gone." He closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands. He rubbed his forehead into his palms.

I decided not to ridicule him, since I had no idea why he left, and also no idea why he had come back to us so late. He hadn't been kidnapped, there had been no sign of a struggle, if he had been taken, a lot of my house would have been destroyed.

I stared at him trying to see what he was thinking, he wouldn't meet my eyes, and his face was a block of stone like it always been. Never giving away any emotion or thought.

"So, why did you leave in the first place? Why didn't you come back after I saved the world? It would have been easy, not at first obviously, but eventually. Why did you come back then leave again?" I needed these questions answered and wasn't going anywhere until they were.

"I didn't really have a choice, I'm sorry that I left you by yourself with a child. But, I couldn't stay and put you in danger." I kept listening, struggling with not bursting out with a snarky sarcastic remark to his "putting you in danger" BS. "I left first because Dylan made me realize that I couldn't stay without putting your life on the line, I came back because I loved you too much to stay away, and I left because I couldn't bear to think that if you died it would have been my fault." That was when Dylan's fist came hurtling at Fang's face.

** So, way longer than usual *does a happy dance*, let's hope Fang doesn't kill Dylan ;D, joking I hate Dylan, he can die. So, all of you Fan Fic kids out there reading this, please consider the script, 'cause it would be great. **


	7. Chapter 7

** I have too much time on my hands…I wrote the sixth chapter then ate dinner, did the dishes, then sat around contemplating on writing the seventh. Well, and hour or so later, here it is. **

So, yeah, Dylan's fist came flying at Fang's face at full speed. He jumped out of the way, knocking over about three chairs in the process and kneed Dylan in the gut. Dylan fell and grabbed Fang, taking him down along with my tablecloth. 

"TAKE IT _OUTSIDE!"_ I yelled at them, they looked up, still grabbing each other's shirts; fists raised, and loudly tumbled and took the fight into the front lawn. I shook my head and followed their stupidity outside, I was so glad everyone was upstairs getting ready, and not down here witnessing this.

They looked like they were teenagers again, fighting for no reason at all like this. It made no sense, but then again Dylan made no sense, and Fang had his moments. I shrugged and watched them go at it on my lawn. My neighbor Alex came out, when she saw them fighting, she looked at me looked back at them and back at me. I shook my head, and she nodded then went back inside.

Fang's leather jacket was strewn on the front porch steps where I was sitting, Dylan's shoes were in the flower bed along with his weird surfer necklace he wore everywhere. I'm not quite sure what it is with him and shoes, whenever he spars with Iggy he takes off his shoes, it just strikes me as odd.

I watched them grapple with eachother, Fang's strength was overcoming Dylan's every second they fought, and I could see this being over soon. I was right, within minutes Fang knocked Dylan to the ground. He groaned and dropped his head on the grass and stayed there. I walked inside, not wanting to wait for a speech from Fang, after a fight or a long paragraph he gets all speechy with me. Max no like.

I went inside picked up the tablecloth, and setting the chairs back up. Maybe I should tie Dylan to one of these instead of Fang it would keep him from making trouble. Or at least no more trouble than usual. Just the other day he tried to jump my bones, he forgot that I was way more experienced than he was, since technically he's only thirteen years old. I may have mangled his face, and when anyone asked he said he got hit with a shovel. A shovel made of titanium.

Fang walked in the door, and I started to seriously rethink me hating him. I mean of course I never hated him fully; I still had a little piece of love in a corner of my soul. It was that little piece that hoped he would come back one day, and now it was growing more than I consciously wanted it to. He noticed me staring at him and gave me a weird look then went down the hall to the guest room we were letting him use. I wondered why he even came back if he was supposedly putting me in danger if he was near. I could never quite comprehend that little bit, but maybe it was that I couldn't focus when he was around?

I was clueless when it came to attention from the opposite sex, I had no idea how to respond most of the time, and had only dated once, and look where that got me. Well, I had nothing else to do, so I just sat in the living room reading another book, and waited for everyone to come downstairs. It seemed like it took them an hour, but it was probably my lack of patience making time go slower.

Dylan came stalking in, looking worse than he had when I beat him into a pulp. Which was hard to do, he was bleeding and bruised all over, it didn't look like anything was broken, but he still looked pretty funny to me. I wasn't exactly sure why he was in my house, considering I had told him not to come near here or I'd rip his spine out through his nose. But at that moment I was taking pity on him because he had taken the worst beating I had seen Fang deal out in a long time. Since he killed those erasers when we were kids. Wow, I felt old.

I looked back at my book, and ignored his presence. I could feel him boring holes into me, trying to get me to acknowledge him, but no dice, he wasn't getting my attention anytime soon.

I heard something like the trampling of elephants on the savannah coming down the stairs, but then realized it was the whole flock, including Fang who must have gone upstairs when I wasn't paying attention. All of them-but Fang-stared at him like he was a cannibal at a vegetarian restaurant.

Dylan stared back, he didn't look like a cannibal, he just looked like a hamster staring down a wolf, I mean having seven intimidating bird kids stare at you has got to be uncomfortable. I should know, I get stared down about twice a week when we don't agree on dinner.

"So, is everyone ready to go?" I was met with all their stares, and Dylan's glare to top it off. I shrugged. " Whoever says yes first gets front seat." Fang was the first to get it, and I didn't care as much as I thought I should. I just walked out the door, yelled at Dylan to get out, and piled everyone in the car with me.

**Yeah, done with two chapters in one day! What can make this better? Someone taking me up on the script thing please, or a few more reviews. But both would be good. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, simple as that.**

Dylan was gone before I had to say another word to him, so I locked the door and we piled into the car. By the time we had gotten to Mom's house, Fang and Total were arguing, Iggy was trying to get away from Gazzy's stench, and Angel was trying to tell me which way to go. She never did know how to just shut up and let me do my thing, it hadn't been this way before they captured her the first time, I think they did something to increase her mutation rate and intelligence.

We finally pulled into the drive and got out, I was hoping just to take the blunt approach to bringing Fang to my mom, and hoping she wouldn't pass out. I took a deep breath and went towards the door with everyone trailing behind me. I knocked, waited a minute or two, knocked again, and the door opened half a minute later with my mom standing in front of me.

"Hey, Mom, how are you?" I asked her as we went in for a hug. She squeezed me tightly, and I realized I never wanted to live without her again. She stepped back and squeezed my shoulders.

"I'm fine, honey, no need to worry about me." She replied. A week or so earlier, she had fallen down the stairs and knocked herself out, no one had known until Jeb had gotten home from work, and that was four hours after. She had a concussion, and was forced to stay home from work for a week. I worried that she would hurt herself even more if the concussion was affecting her at all. After that she moved on to the rest of the flock, going to Melanie last and longest, then looking at Fang.

"Oh, hi, you must be a friend of Max's," She shook his hand, and he looked surprised. "I'm her mother." She shook his hand vigorously, and motioned for us all to follow her inside. Fang caught up to me and gave me a look. I shrugged and moved on.

"Mom, he's not just a 'friend'." She looked confused, but I let her chew on it for a minute or so.

"Oh, I understand," She winked at me. "He's your boyfriend isn't he?" I flushed, and shook my head vigorously.

"W-what? No! It's Fang, Mom, how did you not recognize him?" She laughed, and doubled over. She kept laughing until no sound came out. I didn't realize I was a comedian. I raised my eyebrow and stared at her, waiting for the laughter to cease.

"Oh, I knew that the whole time," She waved her hand around a bit. "He looks almost exactly the same as he did twelve years ago." I sighed and rolled my eyes, not believing that she would try to make a joke out of me like that.

"well, I just wanted to show you he's back for about a week." I told her. She raised her eyebrows. I shrugged. "It's something he and I agreed on." She nodded at me. Then quickly shooed us all into the kitchen, where she had some cookies on the counter.

** Yep, another short chapter….way short, but I'm extremely tired :( I haven't slept more than three hours each night. No bueno. Review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I've been gone a while haven't I? Well, I just finished a fantastic book, "Swan Song" by Robert McCammon; something I think everyone should read. It gave me the will to start writing again so here we go.**

It was two days after we visited Mom, that I woke up to sounds of complete chaos going on in my kitchen downstairs. _The apocalypse had better be happening, _I thought, sleep deprived. I hadn't slept much in the last forty-eight hours, and that had something to do with Fang. It was more subconscious though, like I felt I was going to be crept up on by erasers, flyboys, or even those weird ninja things that were in Mexico. I felt like the world was how it was before Melanie came.

I wasn't sure why, but I couldn't focus on it with all that noise coming from downstairs. I brushed my hair into a messy ponytail, threw on some jeans and a tank top, then hurried to the kitchen. I ran into Iggy in the hall and threw up my hands.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there." I told him he snorted and shook his head.

"Sure, didn't see the _blind _guy, of course." He just shook his head again and walked away, ambling towards the direction of the kitchen.

I followed, and tried not to step on his heels. All the noise I had heard a few minutes earlier, had been coming from pots and pans being shoved around on the stove as everyone yelled at eachother, arguing over the food and what they should be making. It was like our house in Colorado. I inhaled deeply, and really smelled what they were cooking on the stove.

It made me think of Jeb, before he'd turned traitorous, and of Fang and I just being best friends. And of Angel, just being a little girl, _my _little girl. Then it came rushing back to me that I hated Jeb and Fang, and Angel was a creepy little mind reader-though I did love her, and she was sweet in her own way-and that I had my own little girl. Something I forget so often when I'm stuck in a time warp.

Anyway, Fang fought with Nudge about oatmeal, then they laughed about mine not even being recognizable as something edible. I "ehemed" at them, nobody turned, and I did it again. Once again, none of them turned, so I yelled, "Hey!" it gave them a start, even tall dark and hands-silent. Not handsome, silent. Forget I said that.

"Sorry, I just wanted to get your attention, what's for breakfast?" Fang shrugged, and Nudge hit him with a spoon. It made me smile, at least everyone else was getting along with him, even if I had some sort of twisted hate for him. Okay, not hate, but I had some extreme dislike going on.

"Since Nudge over here doesn't know how to cook oatmeal," He gestured to the burned mass of oats in the pot. " We're not entirely sure." He smiled at me, and it made my stomach all fluttery. But, it shouldn't, because I'm no longer in love with him. Not at all. Not even a bit. Angel smiled at me smugly, as if she knew what I was thinking. Oh, wait she did. I should stop now. Right now. Stopped.

~*Break*~

Later on, after the breakfast disaster, everything was normal, Iggy and Gaz went to work, then soon after followed Nudge, then Angel. It was Monday, so Melanie went to school, and I was left alone with Fang. My job was still with the CSM, even after all these years and stunts, yes I still worked for them. Mom did too, and occasionally everyone else did some aerial shows with me, otherwise I was mostly giving speeches. So, I didn't go to work daily it was usually weekend work, when I could fly to another state or even another country, two weeks ago it was Japan.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur, and Fang didn't bother me much, just to ask me if I was hungry and if I wanted to make something or go out. I voted stay in, and he cooked up some grilled cheese. Which surprisingly was the best I've had in a while.

"Mm, this is great, what'd you do to it?" I said through my chewing. The cheese was perfectly melted; it was Swiss cheese, the kind I love. He laughed a little bit at me, something I didn't mind in this moment.

"I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, I mean there's some tomato and some bacon, but otherwise it's a normal grilled cheese sandwich." I inspected my sandwich a bit, then I bit into it. I remembered all our time together as I did, which is weird-that a sandwich could trigger memories. I remembered being in Chad with him, and feeding the small children, that's where we first met Dylan. I shuddered at the thought, in the past decade he had tried to take Fang's place-which hadn't worked in the least. He tried wearing the leather jacket, then tried wearing some black clothes, but clothes don't make you different.

I looked up from my sandwich, and noticed that Fang had been staring at me in the few minutes I had been thinking back to the good times. Not that these were bad times, but those were fun, when I felt free unburdened, even if we were always tirelessly chased by…well, everything. Melanie isn't a burden, and I don't regret having her, I just want that old freedom back sometimes.

"Are you okay over there?" He asked me, I nodded my head and kept eating. I took a drink of lemonade, then got up from the table to wash my dishes.

"Are you done?" I asked him. "I'll wash your dishes, so you can get back to what you're doing." He said yes, and handed me the plate along with his cup.

"I wasn't actually doing anything," He made known to me, "I was just thinking about something." I nodded and he went silent, it was comfortable. To me anyway I wasn't sure how comfortable he could be, since I was the woman who had his kid. I looked at him, and realized my mom was right, he did look the same as he did twelve years ago. Maybe a little taller, and broader but much the same.

"So, do you want to go on a walk or something?" He asked nonchalantly. I thought about it, set the dishes on the towel, and turned towards him. "I understand completely, if you don't want to." He shrugged.

"No, I think a little fresh air would be nice."

** Wow, it took me like two days to finish that XD, I feel slow, and yet I finished like four books this weekend….if only I wrote as fast as I read. Anyway, review! And hoped you enjoyed it **


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, hello, kiddies! I'm back! I'm such a procrastinator, sorry guys I know it's been a while. But, I'm back and kickin' ass better than ever! (hopefully anyway) So, let's do this thing! **

Chapter Ten

After Fang and I took a walk I realized that I couldn't hold a grudge forever. Despite some of the things that had gone wrong over the years. Fang was somehow still the one who knew me best; every movement he made was still in sync with mine more than anyone's. Even Melanie. I don't know how he did it, but it was as if we were back at the scene of Angel's supposed death. He moved towards me and I almost fell into his arms like the wimpy little flower I tried not to be. But I didn't. And I won't. Because I can't.

Nothing could ever be okay enough for me to fall back into a pattern with him so easily. I couldn't do that to myself, and I couldn't disrespect my daughter like that. It would just be unfair to her as well as myself.

"No," I spoke out loud. I put my hands out to steady myself and keep him away from me and my weakness. "No," I whispered again. "I just can't do this with you again; it wouldn't be fair to Melanie." Fang looked at me and sighed, he ran his hand through his hair. I backed away from him a few steps. He looked at me again then looked to the wall of pictures; I walked over to the picture he seemed to be looking at. It was a picture of me and Melanie in our back yard under our oak tree that the previous owner had planted.

The look on my daughter's face took my breath away, I took it off the wall and handed it to him slowly as some sort of peace offering. He took it from my hands just as slowly as I had given it to him. Fang gripped it tenderly and stared at it for a few minutes. I don't know what I was doing, but it seemed like it would possibly mend something between us. Maybe that would allow me to be nice to him – for lack of a better word – and possibly gain a better relationship with him. And everyone else. Especially Iggy, because he had been impossibly grumpy lately.

He put it back on the wall without a word and patted my shoulder as he walked out of the kitchen. My shoulders slumped and I sat down at the table wondering – not for the first time, and definitely not the last – what I should do. I wasn't sure what to do when he left the first time, and I still didn't know what to do now that he was back. It just wasn't my strong suit to deal with situations that included Mr. Tall-and-dark. Not anymore anyway.

~*Break*~

At 2:30 Melanie got out of school, so I walked over to pick her up and spotted Dylan under one of the shade trees in the front of the school. I didn't even acknowledge this and I had sunglasses on anyway so it didn't look like I did for even a second. I glanced at my watch, it was 2:20, he could walk over to me at any time. I groaned inwardly as I saw him walking in my direction. I wished I had dyed my blonde hair brown like I had planned; it would have made me look less noticeable. He walked over to me quicker than I had expected him to, but I had been caught up in my inner turmoil for longer than it had seemed, I guess. I had nowhere to run because I wanted to be able to pick Melanie up right after school. I had no time for running.

I ignored him as he stopped in front of me; I just stared straight ahead at the entrance to the school, silently praying that the bell would ring. "Hey-y-y," He drew out his greeting and waved his hand in front of my face. I swatted it away and looked at him.

"What do you want now, Dylan?" I was irritated just by his mere presence. He smiled at me sweetly – almost angelically – and started to speak just as Iggy came up behind him.

"Hey, Dylan," He put a hand on Dylan's shoulder. "How's it hangin'?" He asked him. Dylan turned towards Iggy and smiled at him.

"Hey, bro, I haven't seen you in a while!" They did one of those weird guy hug-handshake things, and started talking. While Iggy was distracting Dylan, the bell rang and only a few seconds afterward Melanie ran towards me so fast she was almost flying. I gathered her up in my arms as Dylan turned to once again try to talk to me, but I took hold of Melanie's hand and tried to walk away.

"I'm sorry, Dylan, but I can't stay at all. I have some errands to run." I pushed him off easily and headed towards our house. I would be lucky if he didn't try to follow us.

I turned my head towards my daughter as she talked about her school day. She talked animatedly about the cute boy in her class, and about the science project she was assigned to. "Mom, do you think I could do the project with Cassie, just like last time?" Melanie asked me. Cassie was her best friend, and they did everything together that was humanly possible. They would be attached at the hip if they could.

I nodded, "As long as you two don't leave flour on the ceiling this time," I smiled at her, and she laughed. The last project they did together had ended with their project exploding and leaving flour and baking soda on my ceiling and walls. It took me a week with the whole Flock's help to get my kitchen clean again.

As we got closer to the house I spotted Fang and Nudge on our porch along with my mother and Gazzy. I was slightly suspicious as I hadn't seen them look so serious since Fang had left. I tugged on Melanie's hand and told her to walk a little faster so we could get whatever news was making them look like a funeral had been announced. I let go of Mel's hand and we ran up the stairs together, Fang looked over at me and at that moment I knew something was wrong. My mother came and put her arm around mine and Melanie's shoulders.

"I'm sorry to say that Total and Angel are very sick," I jerked my head back in surprise. We never got sick, our immune systems were – figuratively – made of steel. "I took Total to the clinic, and Angel is in the hospital that Jeb works at." I shook my head and opened my mouth to try to talk a few times. I closed it, and opened it, looking like a fish gasping for air.

"How…?" I finally managed to get out weakly. My mother shook her head. I looked back and forth from her to the others around the porch. They all didn't know where to look, but it was anywhere but me.

"Hon, none of us know how their sickness could have happened. All we know is that they express the same symptoms," she sighed and continued on. "Dehydration, exhaustion, insomnia, and the refusal to eat anything." I shook my head and sagged into my mother's side as I absorbed the news. Melanie went and cuddled into Nudge's side for comfort, and Gazzy went over to Fang to be comforted as if he was again a small child.

~*Break*~

I sat in the den and held my head in my hands as I decided what to do about our current situation. I had already called Angel's place of work to notify them of her sickness, they told me they would continue to pay her as she was on leave of health. Everyone had gone upstairs long ago, and I had put Melanie to sleep hours before that. It was just lonely me who sat in the downstairs by myself. I suddenly felt a warm hand upon my shoulder, I looked up and Fang was there. He said nothing, but enveloped me in a warm embrace. I didn't refuse, but just sank into it, as if it were still a familiar feeling.

He held me in his arms and comforted me without words until I fell asleep, and I assume it was he who carried me upstairs; because I woke up in my cool bed in the morning. But, for the time during the night I was awake with him in the den, he didn't criticize me for being weak or an insufficient leader; he just held me through the tough time. Maybe it was the time for me to forgive him for being gone.

** I feel terrible for not updating for so long, guys. I don't know what got a hold of me, because I know I had the whole summer open to write. I should have written this chapter a long time ago. I have no excuses for this.**

** Anyway, I really hope you liked this chapter, and please leave your comments for me. I love hearing your ideas and ways of improving my ways of writing and even how the story flows. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey, everyone! I'm uploading another new chapter, and I hope I can continue to update more frequently now that I'm on top of everything in my life. So, enjoy the story, guys! *psst* and review, please.**

~*Break*~

I woke with a start from a dream that had me sweating and my heart going like a hummingbird's. I didn't know what to make of it. I had been running through a maze non-stop throughout the whole dream, and close behind me erasers followed. I could feel their hot breath, and their jaws snapping at my feet while I tried to stay agile and keep a fast pace. It only took me back to the death games that the school would play with us. At least Angel wasn't here to be trouble by my dreams. The doctors taking care of her – including Jeb – still didn't know what was wrong with her.

With the special knowledge that had come with creating us, Jeb had the best chance at guessing what this mystery sickness was. It had been twenty-four hours since she had been taken to the hospital, and we hadn't heard any news yet. No one in the flock was quite sure what to make of it, even Dylan knew, and he had no idea what could be wrong with her. In the general populace of bird kid-excuse me, people, he had the most medical knowledge. Excluding Maya. She is not in our demographic. At all. Ever.

Dylan had apprenticed Jeb a few years back, and had learned about everything that made us, well, us. He had learned even beyond that, when he did his own research on us during the time that I decided to give him a small chance. He blew it when he extracted some of Angel's DNA to see if he could possibly recreate her intelligence in a different type of mutant, or even a human. I stopped him before he could do anything remotely mad-scientisty. And by that I mean: beat to a bloody pulp.

Anyway, back to our predicament in the present. Fang was helping out around the house, and kept me in my room or the living room. None of them wanted to strain me, apparently, which made no sense, because I'm the leader, so strain is just fine with me. Out of all of them, they had come to the consensus that, Fang had the best chance of keeping my stubborn butt out of possible trouble. So, for the next few days, Fang was getting to know Melanie as best as he could. He planned on taking her to her favorite places, and picking her up from school for the next few days.

He even bought her ice cream. The only time I ever saw him show his soft side was when one of us was hurt. But, even then he was mostly angry because it was our faults half of the time, anyway. He was going to end up being a good father if I let him stick around.

I lay down in my bed again thinking about everything that had happened, and was thoroughly confused. I felt like a teenager. For the third time this week. I know, I counted. I didn't know how to deal with Fang, or Angel, or even how to deal with the drama queen talking dog. Nothing made sense anymore, and I had no idea what to do with myself.

I got out of bed and went downstairs to try and cook breakfast for everyone. It was still dark outside so I doubted anyone was up yet. I tiptoed downstairs, careful not to make any noise that might wake the others, considering they all had bat ears. As I entered the kitchen, I was surprised to find Nudge up and wandering the kitchen looking for something.

"Hey, Nudge, what are you looking for?" she jumped, and looked up, her eyes wide and innocent. "Are you okay?" She nodded to me and sat down tiredly at the kitchen table. I plopped down across from her, and rested my head on my fists. "You can tell me if anything is wrong you know, right?" She nodded once more, and I reached across the table to take her hand in mine.

She took in a breath, ready to speak. "I never knew what it would be like without one of you until Angel was buried in all that rubble. Fang was around, and I missed him, but it wasn't the same as what happened…" She trailed off. I squeezed her hand, trying to give her some of my strength. "I thought my sister had died that day, and now I feel like it could really happen." She stopped talking and I took her other hand in mine. Nothing more needed to be said, I understood her completely and totally. We breathed in and out in unison, something that was reassuring to the both of us.

I got up slowly and patted her shoulder. She stayed at the table as I got out ingredients for breakfast. I had organic pumpkin pie filling in our pantry so I thought I would make pumpkin pancakes for everyone. Food is the magical cure for almost anything.

**Boy, am I tired. I hope you liked it, and will continue reading. I will finish this and maybe restart Teen Titans. But, at the moment it seems like a lost cause for that story, too much going on. Review, or PM me to tell me your thoughts on this chapter. Sorry it's short, I just can't stay up for long tonight. Too sick, bleh. I bid you all, adieu.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve, guys. Let's do this thing. And did you guys hear that "Nevermore" is coming out this summer? Hopefully this one will be good.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, obviously I wouldn't be writing a fan fiction if I did.**

~*Break*~

It was day two of Angel and Total's sickness. Nothing had changed so far, with the exception of both of them eating a few bites of food. They were each on an IV, and that wouldn't be changing if their dehydration persisted. This didn't bode well for the flock, if two of us got sick, that meant the rest of us could get ill.

For the time being, Melanie was staying with my mom, and Fang was still staying with us. I didn't know what to expect from the day, and I sure didn't want it to be real. It could be a part of some weird dream, but I doubted it. I sat down in our living room on our couch, and thought more about the predicament. As I was thinking Iggy walked in and sat next to me.

"Hey, Ig, what are you up to?" I asked him nonchalantly. "I haven't seen you at all the past two days." He shrugged his shoulders and turned on the T.V. I sighed, no one was in the mood to talk. Not even Nudge. Which was what she did. All the freaking time. Non-stop, there was a reason why we still called her the Nudge channel. This was one thing she had not learned to master over time. Fang walked out of the guest room to join us, and plopped down on the other side of me. Whatever show Iggy had turned on, had the audience laughing hysterically. This wasn't what I wanted to hear, but I was barely paying attention to it, so it didn't matter.

Nothing really seemed important right now. We all stared blankly at the television screen, Iggy literally did this. His ability to see shapes was still there, and getting better every day. But, his sight still wasn't normal. Just fuzzy and all static mostly. It wasn't surprising, but still not where he wanted it to be. Fang moved over so Nudge could join us as well, she sat down between us and added to our blank staring marathon.

The phone rang, and all four of us jumped five feet in the air. I rushed to the kitchen to get it, and on the other end was Jeb's voice saying something I couldn't interpret. "What?" I practically yelled into the phone. "Jeb, I can't hear you!" my voice came out sounding distressed.

On the other end I could finally hear Jeb's voice. "I've diagnosed Angel!" He said it excitedly, and loudly. I could still barely hear him though, it sounded as if he were near a jet engine. "She has a form of Avian flu." I snorted at this, of course she would have that instead of something normal. Like, I don't know, regular influenza?

"That's fantastic, Jeb," I finally got out. I sighed in relief as all the tension flooded out of my body. "So, can you treat her now that she's been diagnosed?" He hesitated ever so slightly to answer me. In that small bit of hesitation the tension came back to my body. By this time the others had come into the kitchen, and were watching me from the doorway.

"I can treat her," He finally answered. "But, it will be over a week until she comes home." My shoulders went slack in defeat, I sighed once again – something I seemed to be good at these days – and said goodbye to Jeb. I set down the phone in the cradle and turned to the others. Iggy looked like he was in real physical pain, and Nudge's eyes were misty. Fang just looked like he had shut down completely. They had obviously heard Jeb talking about Angel on the phone, or at least part of it. I looked at Nudge and shook my head.

"Nudge, she isn't dying, there's no need to cry over a flu." I smiled and raised my eyebrow at her. She nodded, as tears spilled onto her cheeks, I reached for her just as she ran up the stairs to her room. I rubbed my eyes with one hand, and had the other on the counter to balance myself.

"So, is she going to be better in a week? Or only able to come home?" Iggy asked me after Nudge was well out of earshot. I shrugged, then remembered he couldn't really see that. Since, you know, he's blind.

"I don't know, I hope she's better. Angel won't be fully recovered most likely, but I have a feeling this is a new strain of the avian flu." I looked out the window to see Dylan walking across our lawn and shook my head. He just had to come now didn't he? I continued, "They may want to keep her under observation for the whole week, even if she is better." There was a knock I had been expecting on our door. I stayed where I was, cemented to the spot, not moving. I kept my hand over my eyes and pretended I hadn't heard the knock that came a few seconds after the first one. I peeked through a gap in my hand at the boys.

They simultaneously looked at each other, though Iggy couldn't see Fang they both started laughing anyway at my non-ability to deal with this situation. Fang jumped up from the table, where he had taken a seat, to get the door. And probably humiliate me. Or scare off Dylan, which was preferable.

"Hey!" I heard a sudden shout from the front door, and a thump, then a crash. I ran out to the entry way to find Dylan on the floor with blood all over his white t-shirt, which made the red stand out even more than it normally would have. He stared at Fang with a burning hatred, Fang looked down on him with an equally passionate animosity. As if realizing for the first time that I was there, they looked up at me in surprise.

"He attacked me, Max," Dylan pointed at Fang with an accusing finger, while whining at me like I was his mother. "He just punched me out of nowhere." That made no sense at all, because Fang had his back to the door, and Dylan was laying with his head towards the back of the house. It looked to me that Dylan had tried a surprise attack, and had gotten picked up and thrown to the ground as Fang had turned. I don't know, maybe I was wrong.

Fang's chest heaved up and down as he eased out of a fighting stance, he stared at me, challenging me to believe Dylan. "I didn't do any of that." His speech of the day had finally come. I nodded at him, and swiftly kicked Dylan out of my domain.

**I really do like the word domain, it gives the idea that where you live, is your kingdom. I hope you guys enjoyed it! And, also, sorry if it's a little boring. Review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I love reviews; they're like a little present. Sort of like a piece of incentive, telling you someone likes your story, so you keep going. Even if it's only one person. So, here I go!**

Fang P.O.V.

Max looked like she was going to worry herself to an early grave. This wasn't anything I was pleased about, more like I was even more worried than she was. Over her, and Angel. But, I knew Angel would be fine, like always. Max was the one who someone needed to focus on, she was worried about Melanie getting sick, and Angel staying in the hospital longer, and even how she was going to fix dinner that night.

It made me smile, to know that she cared for everyone so much; but if she kept worrying like this, her thick, beautiful hair would start to fall out. Or something like that, I had heard somewhere, that if you worry more than normal your hair could fall out. But, what did I know? I was the experiment, not the doctor. I looked at Iggy, he wasn't worried too badly, but he was tensed up. He didn't have the best experience with doctors, considering some "good" scientists turned whack-jobs did a number on his sight while trying to improve it.

I turned my attention back on Max, who at the moment was trying to make breakfast for us. And failing, but at least she was trying. It looked like it was supposed to be some sort of omelet, or maybe scrambled eggs. I couldn't be sure, with the way she had cooked when we were kids, it could be some alien concoction made of their mucus. She turned to me, and caught me looking at her. Max's face screwed up to look almost angry.

"What are you looking at, bird boy?" I smiled and shook my head. As soon as she said bird boy, Iggy's head shot up to look in her direction.

"Are you talking to me?" He raised his eyebrow, and said this lifelessly. So, maybe he was more worried that I had thought at first. Max scooped the egg-mucus thing onto a plate, and put that down onto the table for everyone to dig into with forks. I scooted my chair back and walked into the living room, where I could escape the odd food. A few minutes after I left, Max did as well, going upstairs for her morning shower. Her routine was – usually – to take a shower, come downstairs, eat, and get dressed. This was a little out of routine, but nothing so horribly of course it couldn't be fixed.

I sat in the same place for an hour or so, when Max finally came downstairs. Her hair was still damp, but it was drying in a braid, with some tendrils curling around her face. She looked over at me, catching me staring at her. I played it off and smiled at her, she raised her eyebrows acknowledging me. I looked over at the T.V., on which some game show was playing. No one was in the room with me, and I had no interest in it so I just turned the T.V. off.

Max had plans to go to the hospital in fifteen minutes to visit Angel, so I slipped on some shoes and a white shirt. Max walked out the door, apparently she was leaving earlier than I had thought. I followed her to the car and got into the passenger door. I buckled the seat belt, and for the first time she saw me, and screamed.

"What the hell are you doing?" She yelled, then she punched my arm, I tried not to flinch, but her blow hurt way too much.

"I'm going with you to see Angel," She looked at me quizzically. "That's what you said, right?" She shook her head from side to side with her eyes closed.

"I _said_ I was going to see Jeb. _Alone._" She enunciated the last word, as if saying it could push me out of the car on its own. I stared her down.

"I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not." She stared back at me twice as hard, and was just as willful as ever. I tried to bore holes into her with me stare, but she didn't falter. "

"You aren't coming with me," She said, "I said I was going alone, and I will go alone, I don't need you adding onto my worries." I opened my mouth to say something, but she stopped me just as I was about to speak. "Because, I know if I took you and Iggy, you would wheelchair race, or something inane I don't want to deal with. Do you understand what I'm saying?" I tried to say something, but lighting fast, she put her hand over my mouth.

"You won't speak, you will nod if you understand me." I nodded at her, and she took her hand off of my mouth. I rubbed my face and watched her carefully. "So, you should be getting out right about now." She made a shooing gesture in the direction of the door. I shook my head.

"The thing is, you aren't taking Iggy. I'm coming with you, and I will be adult, and to use your word, I will not do anything inane." I raised my eyebrows. "Happy?" She just glared at me, and started the car, giving up on even trying to get me out of her car. She backed out of the drive, and headed on her way to the hospital.

~*Break*~

We had finally made it to the hospital, and had to wait almost as long to park. As soon as we had gotten parked, we had to go through the maze of halls to get to Jeb's office. It was turn after turn, twisting through white halls that I couldn't differentiate between. I was almost running to keep up with her, and I think that was Max's intention, but I kept going, and eventually ended up at the office with her.

"I need to talk to him alone, go visit Ang. She's in the adjoining room." She waved to the door next to the office and disappeared behind the pale blue door. I sighed and stared after her long after she was gone, I took her advice then and went to visit Angel. I opened the door to an ugly avocado painted room, and looked around until I spotted a curtained area most likely to contain Angel.

I pulled back the curtain, and looked at the girl that lay in the bed. She looked almost nothing like Angel, she was so emaciated that it was almost like looking at a skeleton. Her blonde hair lay in a halo around her head, dull, and lifeless, she was connected to a dozen machines, and had breathing tubes going into her nose.

I looked at her, my baby Angel, wasting away before my eyes. She was supposed to be getting better, but was she really?

**Another chapter done! All thanks to my writing playlist, music is what keeps me going. Is Angel really getting better? Or is she wasting away to nothing? See you next time! **


	14. Author's Note

Hey, everyone, the story may be on hiatus for a while. I got some bad grades on my report card, and I'm not really allowed on the computer at my house, so I may not be able to update until I get my grades up. I am so sorry , I'm going to miss updating so much. I'll write when I can, y'all.

Love,

Raven


	15. Chapter 15

Fang P.O.V.

I sat at Angel's bedside for a little over an hour when Max walked into the room, she jolted a little at the sight of the youngest flock member – not counting Melanie of course – and came over to sit with us immediately. She didn't talk for quite some time, but when she did she whispered, trying not to wake up Angel.

"Jeb said she was getting better, that it was just some sort of strain of the avian flu. This doesn't look better to me, it looks like it's worse." She gestured to Angel's hair and face. "Her hair is dull, her cheeks and eyes just look sunken in..." she trailed off, not knowing what else to say about the subject. I nodded in agreement; she looked like she was just wasting away. There was an I.V. snaking into her arm and breathing tubes going in her nose. I looked away, refusing to think about the bad things that could happen.

We sat there together for another fifteen minutes or so, then Jeb walked in toting a clipboard. He stopped to close the door and write something on his paper quickly.

"Good morning, Fang, how are you today?" I just stared at him, I didn't grace him with an answer or even a nod. "Okay, well I have some good news," He stopped to clear his throat, "Angel will be able to go home in about a week, and she is getting better. I know it's hard to see it, because she looks like she does, but we've developed some medicine from an existing avian flu medication." I nodded and Max let out the breath she had been holding in and I looked back to the bed that Angel was lying in and put my hand over her cold one.

She moved just a little bit and murmured something in her sleep about wanting something to eat; it struck me right in my heart as I remembered how they held food over us at the school. I rubbed her hand a little bit, trying to bestow a little bit of my warmth on her. She moved a little more, but stayed on her back. I stood up and walked out into the hall. This hallway was covered in a light pink carpet, and had drawings of rainbows, bugs, and other various child-like things on the walls. This was supposed to be the children's ward, it was where you went if you were anywhere between the ages of a month and nineteen years. Angel was nineteen, just on the cusp of really becoming an adult, but still a child.

I looked down the hall and observed the other patients, doctors hurrying here and there, and the parents that were here with their children. There was a small girl walking the hall by herself, she looked to be about fifteen, with a bald head. She was carting her I.V. stand along with her as she walked, and she smiled at everyone she saw. She wore a cherry red bandana over her head, and had another, smaller one tied to her fragile looking wrists. She smiled at me, and I had to look away, it just made me too sad to see such a young life affected by this. She shrugged and turned around to walk to the other end of the children's ward.

I sighed as the door to Angel's room opened to reveal Max, she motioned for me to follow her. We walked down the twisting white hallways and back to the car that waited for us in the parking lot. She and I drove home in silence, we still had to digest the good news. When we finally stopped the car in the driveway, the flock ran out to greet us and hear the news. When I told them, they were ecstatic and couldn't wait for her to come home. But, I suspected that there was more in store for us.

**Hey, guys! No more hiatus for Melanie, even if this is super short. Tell me what you think of this chapter if you would, and I'll write another chapter? I dunno, but I'd love to hear some feedback.**


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